Are Your Emails Optimized for Mobile?

September 18, 2012

Why, you ask, should you be concerned about optimizing your emails? How about because one-third of emails worldwide are opened on mobile!

According to a post on eMarketer, email open rates in North America are on the rise. There is no doubt that email is still relevant, but the challenge is cutting through over-stuffed in boxes.

With over 36% of emails worldwide being opened on mobile, only about 22% according to StrongMail have mobilized templates.

Here are some things to consider to ensure your emails are being read:

  • reduce length of text
  • increase font size
  • narrow template
  • use fewer calls to action
  • design to be more touch friendly

 

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New Survey Shows that Mobile is Important to Professional Tradesmen

June 27, 2012

It should come as no surprise to anyone that smartphones and tablets are changing the way we all communicate and do business. This couldn’t be more true, especially for small businesses like contractors. These guys are “time starved” and are not sitting behind a computer all day. They are out taking care of business.

A recent survey by Cargo and Inc. Magazine in emarketer.com showed the vast majority (915) of U.S. small companies place importance on wireless communications and smartphones for their businesses. Tablets were not far behind at (64%). You can certainly bet that contractors of all kinds are on the top of this list.

Technology that Is Important to Their Business According to US Small-Business Owners, March 2012 (% of respondents)

So, if you’re not considering mobile as a key way to communicate with those professional tradesman, you should be.

Here’s a simple tip to get started: Adapt your mobile web presence for Apple OS-based devices (iPads make up 79% followed by Android devices at 39%).

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Reaching Contractors via Mobile. Still Not a Believer? See what Grainger is doing.

June 19, 2012

We’ve talked a lot about mobile and what it means to both manufacturers and distributors when trying to reach the professional tradesmen. For those who are still on the fence about mobile and where it’s going, here is some useful info.

I recently read a few articles in emarketer.com on mobile that brought up several good points. emarketer.com interviewed Geoff Robertson from Grainger on how they are using mobile in their sales process.

Here are some highlights:

  • Over the past 12 months, Grainger has seen a 400% increase in mobile activity.
  • Beyond the location and availability issues, Grainger is trying to help companies streamline their workflow by giving those who are requesting the parts to list them, and then those responsible for purchasing can sign off all using mobile technology.
  • Over 50% of their users feel comfortable ordering over mobile devices.
  • Google has an entirely separate algorithm for mobile device searches.
  • Google reported that 1 in 7 searches are now done on mobile devices.

If you don’t have a mobile strategy in place, it should get on your radar screen soon or you’ll be missing lots of opportunities.

If you like this post, you might want to read:

Are You Targeting Emails for Your Mobile Marketing?

Why a Mobile Strategy is so Important to Reach the Professional Tradesmen

What’s Your Mobile Media Strategy for 2012?

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Posted by tradesmeninsights

2012 Trends of Smartphones and Tablets

January 31, 2012

Mobile media is here in a BIG way. Are you incorporating it into your marketing plans for 2012?

According to eMarketer, tablet users in the USA will reach almost 90 million by 2015. By 2015, there will be almost 150 million smartphone users.

So what can you do to dip your toe into the mobile market? I’d suggest you add a mobile component to an existing program and track the results.

Add a video via a QR code in an ad or on packaging that takes them to a helpful video. Do a mobile friendly landing page where they can easily find their closest dealer or store to buy.

Try something. Monitor the results and then try something else. This is the only way to get in since the choices are so overwhelming.

Here are a few other good reasons to incorporate mobile:

Integrating mobile marketing into your overall plans helps support every phase of the purchase cycle, based on data from eMarketer via Millward Brown-Dynamic Logic.

From a marketing perspective, it’s important to understand how and where consumers use their mobile phones. As smartphone penetration continues to increase, mobile phones are no longer just for talking. In fact, according to comScore, only one out of four owners use a phone solely for voice communications.

Mobile is here to stay so you should jump in sooner than later.

If you like this post, you might like:

Podcast: Why Manufacturers Should Be Using QR Codes

What Are You Doing to Insure a Successful QR Code Campaign?

Are You Considering Mobile Media as a Strategy to Reach Professional Tradesmen?

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Why Are B-to-B Marketers So Reluctant To Embrace Social Media?

January 4, 2012

It’s not like social media just came out. The B-to-C space has been using it successfully for the last 3-5 years. So why are B-to-B practitioners slow to adapt?

I think it’s because they don’t know where to start. You should probably start by developing a strategy that is included in your overall marketing plans. If you use social media to help build better relationships with your customers, I think you’ll find that it can help with more than just brand building.

I read a post recently in emarketer.com on why B-to-B was still unsure about social media strategies. Some highlights include:

  • 66% of marketing executives view social media as extremely or very important, but only 7% were leveraging it heavily.
  • 9% of B-to-B marketers weren’t using social at all.

Nearly 50% said that new tools and technology would make their social efforts more effective.

Changes that Need to Be Made for Their Social Media Efforts to Be More Effective According to B2B Marketing Executives in North America, May 2011 (% of respondents)

So if you’re a B-to-B marketer, what’s holding you back? Is it a resource issue?

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How Are You Handling Customer Complaints?

December 20, 2011

I can’t believe that many marketers still ignore customers who are dissatisfied. Especially since most of the complaints make their way to social sites.

Ignoring them won’t make the problem go away, and if the non-responsiveness continues, you may get a tweet with #FAIL attached to it and you’ll be part of an elite group (where you don’t want to be in) who have failed their customers. This is more of a problem for B-to-C companies than B-to-B, but none the less, you still shouldn’t ignore people. Fear and lack of resources are cited as the two most  reasons why companies don’t respond. You probably should rethink your priorities.

According to a recent survey done by eMarketer.com, only 34% used social media to respond.

Engagement in Social Media According to B2B Marketing Executives in North America, May 2011 (% of total)

Another study by Maritz and Evolve24 showed that only 29% of the tweet gripes were responded to. As Jay Baer says, these channels are the social telephone. You’re missing the boat  for several reasons. One is that 83% of those who complain online want to be answered there. Secondly, those who complain on Twitter are already disproportionately upset and ignoring them will only add gas to the fire.

People complain on Twitter because they have already went through traditional means with no resolution. I can attest to this as I’m still fighting with Travelers Insurance on a hail claim on my roof. After getting nowhere with the local adjusters, I was venting on Twitter about it and lo and behold, I got a Tweet back asking me to call an advocacy number. While it didn’t solve my problem (they sent my complaint back to the local adjuster and now I’m one of his favorite people), at least I thought they tried to defuse the situation.

Research has shown that social media users want to be responded to even if a company wants to take the conversation offline. At least they acknowledged you.

So what are you doing to handle complaints on social media?

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Social Media Monitoring Tools: What Do You Do With The Information?

September 8, 2011

Social media is measurable. Isn’t that the mantra everyone talks about? I think everyone would agree that social media is a little easier to get your hands around as to where the lead originated as opposed to traditional media. I sometimes think there’s too much info out there.

Social has several tools to help you measure and monitor your activities and hopefully help you take action. My question is collecting data is one thing, but what you do with it (or not) makes all the difference.

Are you looking at where your referral sources are? Are they from groups on LinkedIn that you belong to or from places like Stumbleupon? If they are coming through search, which engines are picking you up? What key words/phrases are being used?

emarketer.com recently had a post on How Social Media Marketers Can Make the Most out of Monitoring Tools that I thought was interesting. They cited a June 2011 study by RSW/US and Web Liquid of Senior Marketers. Not surprising, Google Alert was the most popular tool being used by them. It was good to see that marketers were indeed using these monitoring tools to take some sort of action. See the chart below.

Ways US Marketing Executives Are Using Their Social Media Monitoring Data to Make It Actionable, June 2011 (% of respondents) 

Tracking is the first step, but it needs to be followed by actions. What are you doing with your social info?

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What Are You Doing to Reach the Young Professional Tradesmen?

September 6, 2011

I know one of the biggest challenges for manufacturers that we represent is getting to the young entrants in the trades. They know how to get to the old guys, they’ve been doing it for years and know that traditional things like trade ads and direct mail programs are effective tools to reach them.

But when you talk to these folks on how they plan on reaching the future generations of tradesmen, they are definitely puzzled as they know the traditional methods are probably not the best way to connect with them. They think of social media as one possible avenue to connect with these young people, but often neglect the mobile devices.

While that may not be surprising that young people are active in mobile devices, what might surprise you is that the baby boomers are also active in mobile, but just a different kind. Consider this: 91 million U.S. consumers use the internet through mobile devices at least once a month and that number continues to rise (Affinity reports that more than 24 million millennials plan on purchasing smart phones in the next 6 months).

Generation of US Consumers Most Likely to Own a Smartphone, Tablet or Ereader, 2011

So the question is:

  • Do you have a mobile strategy in place to reach your young targeted audiences?
  • Do you have a mobile friendly website?
  • Are you planning smart phone apps?
  • What’s your plan to start collecting e-mail addresses and mobile phone numbers for future marketing programs?

Mobile will play an important part in communicating with the younger tradesmen. What’s your plan?

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Are You Using Social Media to Listen to Your Customers?

August 25, 2011

Listening to customers is not a new strategy, but today we have more options to connect and listen, especially online. Social media and digital marketing is making it easier to monitor customers to see what they are saying about you and your competitors.

Smart companies are taking advantage of every possible opportunity and making it a part of their online strategy.

A recent article in emarketer.com highlighted results of a recent study by Forrester Consulting measuring the success of listening and engagement initiatives.

US Marketers Who Have Seen Positive Impact from Listening and Engagement Initiatives on Select Business Metrics, June 2011 (% of respondents) 

The key here is if you listen carefully, it will help you identify issues and ultimately start engaging the customer.

What are you doing to listen to your customer base?

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Are You Capitalizing on LinkedIn?

August 24, 2011

For those of you who read this column regularly, you know LinkedIn is one of my best sources for links to my blog. With 100-million-plus on LinkedIn, how many potential customers are out there waiting to be connected?

In a recent post on emarketer.com there were highlights from a recent study from Lab42  that reinforces the notion that users are highly engaged. Here are some highlights:

  • 35% check their site daily
  • 32% check it several times a week
  • 42% of users update their profiles regularly
  • 81% are interacting with the site

Among the top reasons why professionals use the site… for industry networking and promoting their brand.

Primary Use of LinkedIn According to US LinkedIn Users, by Job Level, July 2011 (% of respondents)

So if you haven’t taken LinkedIn seriously, I’d suggest you spend 15 minutes searching in the upper right hand of the site groups. Type in key words/phrases and you may be surprised on the number of existing groups that share your same interests. Wouldn’t you want to be connected with them?

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